Chapter 6: The Throat of the Monster



Memorable Passage(s):

"Ja. you are a doctor. A doctor is like a spider. You must have your web. You cannot escape it. In a way, it traps you. Just as a spider trapped..." (p. 121)

"The newspapers reported that the general economic situation was improving. The currency crisis, the unemployment, Belgian and French troops occupying the coalmines in the Ruhr---all the terrifying problems of the past two years---had evaporated. There was a building boom in Munich and elsewhere in Germany, too. There were fewer loiterers and beggars on the streets. He [Johann] could see a bit of recovery in the policlinic, in his patients' clothing, if not in their general health. But he had no confidence that it would last. As his father had said, if their money could be worthless once, it could be worthless again. "Nothing lasts," had been his father's dying words." (p. 119)



Summary:

We are introduced to Johann and Helga's son: Paul-Adolf. They are currently living with Johanns mother, his father died of a stroke. Johann is a physician and Helga is again pregnant. Meanwhile Johann is getting more and more into Hitler and the Nazi party. "Johann worshipped certainty and authority." (page 125) Believing that they needed to overcome the foreigners, outsiders and enemies, they will survive, Johann goes to meet Hitler and ends up examining him. He is excited and nervous and then he leaves he has decided to be a man of action.


Characters:

Johann Brenner (pg. 111)

Helga (pg 113)

Ottilie Brenner (pg 114)

Sprenger (pg 115)

Bock(pg 115)

Steublein(pg 115)

Schwester Forest(pg 115)

Schwester Arens(pg 115)

Schwester Mannesmann(pg 115)

Adolf Hitler(pg 129)


Key Concepts/ Events:


Zero Hour- time set for the beginning of a military attack operation (111)

Hansl- nickname for Johann(122)

Mein Kampf- " My Struggle/ fight"; a book written by Hitler in 1925 (http://shadowswalking.com/Shadows_Walking/Mein_Kampf.html)

Fuhrer- leader(127)

Deutschland- Germany (128)

Guten Tag- hello, good day, good meeting(130)

VOCAB:

Defendant (112)- a person against whom an action or claim is brought in a court of law

Syphilitics (113)- Study of the venereal disease, syphilis

Pathology (113)- The scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes

Emigrated (114)- To leave one country to settle in another

Acrid (115)- Sharp, pungent, or bitter to the taste or smell

Bureaucracy (115)- a government system for having jobs

Pittance (118)- a meager monetary allowance, wage, or remuneration

Undulate(ing) (131)- to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion Page 131 The entirety of that passage, not abreviated as I've written it. "...Johann felt himself grow dizzy. He could still feel Hitler's pulse, still see his eyes...He was eager to hell her that he had decided to become a man of action. That he had seen the Fuhrer himself."

Schwester (115)-sister

Fleischsuppe mit Knodel (119)- meat soup with dumplings

Magdeburgerstabe (112)- location